Combination chipping and barker device



Aug. 2, 1958 D. E. BROWN COMBINATION CHIPPING AND BARKER DEVICE Filed Jan. 5,1956

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COMBINATION CHIPPING AND BARKER DEVICE Filed Jan. 3, 1956 4 ShGtS-Shet 2 INVENTOR. Donald E. Bran n,

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Aug. 12, 1958 D. E. BROWN 53 0 COMBINATION CHIPPING AND BARKER DEVICE Filed Jan. 5, 1956 v 4 Sheeis-Sheet s INVENTOR. Dana/d E. firm vii,

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Aug. 12; 1958 D, E, RowN 2,847,045

COMBINATION CHIPPING AND BARKER DEVICE Filed Jan. 3, 195a 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN V EN TOR.

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent COMBINATION CHIPPING AND BARKER DEVICE Donald E. Brown, Lakewood, N. 1.

Application January 3, 1956, Serial No. 556,872

2 Claims. (Cl. 144-462) This invention relates to a combination chipping and barking device and methods and more particularly concerns devices and methods that produce wood chips and simultaneously separate the bark from slab wood, edgings, logs and the like. The wood chips thus obtained are particularly useful in the manufacture of paper pulp. This device and method are also adapted to provide mulch for agriculture, litter for poultry, and bedding for the dairy industry.

In the processing of lumber, the inner portion of a log is cut into a square cross-section leaving four slabs of arc-shape cross-section having bark on the arcuate face. These slabs are normally considered to be waste, but are included in the raw material which may be processed by the device of the present invention to form wood chips. Many attempts have heretofore been made to provide wood chipping and bark separating devices in the form of separate machines to convert slab wood into wood chips of uniform size and to remove the bark from the chips. Such efforts have resulted in various devices that have had certain disadvantages in commercial use including failure to remove the bark from the chips. The prior art disc type chipper uses a horizontal shaft which is limited to one entrance for feeding the raw material. Of poor design for producing chips are the brush chippers that are more a fragmentation and disposal unit, and are incapable of producing uniform size chips, the product ranging in size from dust to splinters.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a device and method for reducing woody material to cards or wood chips of uniform length and simultaneously removing the bark therefrom. Another object is to provide a device for allowing two or more full size chips or cards from the same slab to be in the process of being cut at the same time. Another object of the invention is to minimize the power needed to drive the device. A further object is to insure that one or more chips are in the process of being cut simultaneously from two different slabs. A further object is to produce the chips by a cutting action rather than by a shearing action. It is a further object to provide a plurality of raw material entrances for feeding the chipping device of the invention. Another object of the invention is to co-ordinate'the cutting speed with the speed of the raw material feed. Another object is to eliminate the use of forced blower means to discharge the chips. A further object is to provide means for quick, efficient sharpening of the chipper knives in the field without removing them from the device. A still further object is to provide novel means for holding and clamping the chipper knives. Another object is to minimize the production of dust and undersized wood chips and to produce chips of uniform length. Another object is to provide a device that is readily portable and adapted to be easily transported in the field. A further object is to provide the device with a novel, long-lasting knife and wear plate and to provide that both upper and lower portions of the chipper knives are used in the device.

The number of component parts of the mechanism of the present invention has been reduced to a minimum, making that mechanism simple, strong, uncomplicated and inexpensive to manufacture, and lending itself to fabrication on a mass production basis.

Further objects and advantages of the invention, as well as the details of a typical and preferred embodiment thereof, will be understood from the detailed description to follow, throughout which reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of one specific embodiment of this invention with the housing top plate partially broken away in order more particularly to illustrate important details; 1

Fig. 2 is an end view of the device looking from the right end of Fig. 1, with parts broken away and on a larger scale than Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front view of the device with parts broken away;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the chipper with part of the chipper top plate broken away to illustrate the knife arrangement, taken as indicated by the lines and arrows IVIV which appear in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective, broken view of the knife attaching mechanism.

Although specific terms are used in the following description for clarity, these terms are intended to refer only to the structure shown in the drawings, and are not intended to define or limit the scope of the invention.

Turning now to the drawings and the specific form of the invention selected for illustration therein, the number 11 designates a base member which supports a housing 12 having vertical legs 13 and 14 supporting housing top plate 17. A drive motor 18 is mounted on base member 11 for supplying power to drive the device. Motor shaft 21 is connected to gear reduction input shaft 22 by drive belts 23. The numeral 24 designates generally a gear reduction box which may be of conventional design. Box 24 is secured to the housing top plate 17 by supports 25.

Extending downwardly from gear reduction box 24 is a gear reduction output shaft 26 that is vertically disposed and ends in flexible coupling 27 above housing top plate 17. A chipper shaft 28 connects with the opposite side of flexible coupling 27 and is held in position by a top bearing 31 which is anchored to the underside of housing top plate 17. The bottom of chipper shaft 28 is supported in a bottom bearing 32 that is held in place in base member 11. A chipper 33 is provided including a chipper bottom plate 34 which is disc shaped and a chipper top plate 35. Both plates 34 and 35 are secured to chipper shaft 28 and rotate with that shaft. Between plates 34 and 35 at their perimeters are supported knives 36 which revolve about shaft 28 to cut through the slabs to produce Wood chips 37 and separate the bark 38 from those chips. The chipper knives 36 are mounted so that they move through the material being cut, in an arc having radii originating at points which are spaced around the circumference of a circle having its center at the,

center of the shaft 28. I

Slabs 41 of wood are fed to the cutting knives 36 by conveyor mechanisms indicated generally by the numerals 42 and 42a. A bevel gear 43 is mounted at the bottom of chipper shaft 28, and a conveyor drive shaft 44 engages bevel gear 43 through a bevel gear 45. Shaft 44 is supported in a bearing 46 and has at its far end a spiral gear 47 that engages a mating spiral gear 48 of a sprocket drive shaft 49. A coupling 51 is inserted in conveyor drive shaft 44 to permit adjustment so that bevel gears 43 and 45 and spiral gears 47 and 48 mesh properly.

, Similarly, on the right side of chipper shaft 28, as shown in Fig. 3, bevel gear 45a meshes with bevel gear 43'ofg Patented Aug. 12, 1958 the chipper shaft 28 to rotate a conveyor drive shaft 44a supported in bearing 46a mounted on base member 11. Rotation of shaft 44a turns spiral gear 47a which meshes with spiral gear 48a of sprocket drive shaft 49a.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, sprocket, drive shafts 49 and 49a have couplings 53 and 53a to permit adjustment and are supported at their outer ends by bearings 54 secured to legs and 15a on base 11. Sprockets 55 and 55a are keyed to sprocket drive shaft 49 and 49a and drive sprocket chains 56 and 56a upon which slabs 41 are placed to be fed to chipper 33. Shafts 49 and 49a are positioned at an angle away from the horizontal, since in this position the action of the knives 36 tends to keep the slabs 41 in contact with conveyor chains 56 and 56a. In order to more positively keep the slabs 41 flattened against the conveyor chains 56- and. 56a, holddown rolls 57 and 57a are provided having shafts 58 and 58a supported. in conveyor side guards 60 and 60a. Grippers 63 and 63a. extend between the conveyor chains 56 and 56a to afford support to slabs 41. The conveyor side guards 60 and 60a have brackets 64 and 64a extending therefrom that hold conveyor chain support shafts 65 and 65a and sprockets 66 and. 66a. Rollers 67 and 67a are provided near the entrance to chipper 33.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, discharge holes 68- in chipper bottom plate 34 permit discharge of the chips 37. The wood chips 37 fall within chipper 33 and are discharged by force of gravity through holes 68 to a conveyor (not shown).

As. shown in Fig. 5,. knife 36 comprises wear plate 70 of comparatively soft metal and a welded hard steel cuting edge 71. The knife 36 has top mounting bracket 72 fixed to one end and bottom mounting bracket 73' at the. other. Pivot pin 74 fits into hole 75 in chipper top plate and pivot pin 76 of bracket 73 fits into a matching hole in chipper bottom plate 34. A knifepositioning tapped hole is provided in plates34, 35 to'ma-tch tapped holes 81in brackets 72, 73. Allenh'eadbolts 82 are screwed through this hole into hole 81 to hold the knives in cutting positionas shown by the full linesof Fig; 4.v In. cutting position, the arcs of the blades 36 are; arcs. of circles having their centers evenly spaced on the circumference of a circle concentric with chipper shaft;28'.

When the knife edge 71. beomes dull and in need of resharpening, Allen head bolts 82 are removed from'holes 81 and the knives 36 are rotated to the dot-dash position of A in Fig. 4. Bolts 82 are screwed through tapped holes 83 into tapped holes 81 of the knife in. order to position knife-face 84 to receive the sharpening machine. With all the knives 36 in this A position, the chipper 33 is rotated to sharpen faces 84. When it is desired to dress or refinish the outer surface 85 of knife 36, tapped holes 86 are positioned to match tapped holes 87 in plates 34, 35, bolts 82 are screwed in, and face 85 is presented to the sharpening machine as shown in dot-dash lines of B in Fig. 4. The faces 85 fall on the circumference of a circle about the axis of chipper shaft 28;

Cutting blocks 90, 91 are fixed to the housing 12 and are adjustable to justclear the-knives 36 and cleanly finish off the cutting ofthe chip. Bottom bed'knives 92 and 92a are positioned to oppose the cutting action of knives 36.

Theoperation of themachine will now become apparent. Drive motor 18 is switched onto rotate motor shaft 21 and, through drive belts 23, drives gear reduction input shaft 22. Thiscauses gear reduction output shaft 26 and chipper shaft 28 to rotate chipper 33 at the desired'peripheral speed.

Bevel gears 43 and 45, 45a cause the conveyor drive shafts 44, 44a to start turning and, through sprocket drive shafts 49, 49a, cause conveyors 42, 42a to start operating. A slab 41-is placed on the conveyors 42, 42a, h'eld' downbyhold-down rolls 57 and 57a'and'moved' toward the knives 36 at a speed of approximately ten inches per revolution of chipper 33. As shown in Fig. 2, one slab approaches the bottom half of knives 36 while the other approaches the top half of knives 36 from the other side, thus insuring full use of the entire cutting edge of the knives. It has been found that the separation of the bark from the chip at the cambium layer is retarded where the peripheral speed of the knife exceeds 20 feet per second while bark removal is very efiicient at a peripheral knife speed of approximately 10 feet per second with the knives 36 positioned 18 inches from the center of shaft 28, and cutting through slab 41, 12 inches wide, at approximately an angle of 30 from the longitudinal axis of the slab. Slower speeds may be employed but this reduces production. Movement of the knife at approximately 10 feet per second cuts and stresses the chip 37 and allows the bark 38 time enough to rupture from the chips 37 as the knife 36 puts the fibers of the slab 41 into compression at the point of cleavage. This action of the knife 36 is to be noted, since one of the failures of previous types of chipper devices was that the knives were forced across the entire slab from the bark to the inner surface in a matter of milli-seconds, and did not operate to separate the bark from the chips, thus requiring debarking prior to chipping.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred embodiment. Various changes may be made in the shape, size and arrangement of parts. For example, the cutting elements while substantially vertical may be positioned at a slight angle. Likewise equivalent elements may be substituted for those illustrated and described-herein, for example a spoked wheel may be substituted for the bottom chipper plate, parts may' be reversed, and certain features of the invention may be utilized independently of the use of other features, all Without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A combination chipping and barking device comprisingin combination a base, chipper means including a top plate, a bottom plate and cutting means extending between said top and bottom plates, means for rotating and chipper means, means for feeding material to be chipped to said chipper means, said means for feeding material to be chipped to said chipper means including a conveyor having drive means, a drive shaft connected to the drive means, a pair of sprockets fixed to the drive shaft, a pair of endless chains driven by said sprockets, a

plurality of grippers connected between said chains on which woody material to be chipped is placed, conveyor side guards positioned substantially parallel to and outside said chains, and a hold-down roller mounted'between said side guards and above said chains and adapted to contact said material to hold it in place while chipping.

2. In a chipping device having a base and chipper means including a top plate and a bottom plate rotatably mounted on said base, cutting means extending between said'top and bottom plates, said cutting means comprising' a knife with a steel wear plate and a hardened steel cutting edge, a mounting bracket fixed to each end of said knife, a pivot pin in each bracket, said. plates having a hole adapted to receive said pivot pins, and means'to position said knife alternatively for cutting or for sharpening' and dressing without removing said knife from said chipper means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 917,084 Lauer Apr. 6, 1909- 1,132,258 Hall Mar. 16, 1915 2,710,635 Alexander June 14, 1955 2,739,627 Vohringer Mar. 27, 1956- 

